Author Archives: CG FEWSTON

A “Book of Records” (or shī shū, the Book of Songs and the Book of History, see p 187) sounds odd to call Madeleine Thien’s long awaited criticism on her family history, on her culture, and on her heritage, but Do Not Say We Have Nothing incorporates a bit of everything from Madeleine’s life: she was born in Canada while her mother is a Hong Kong Chinese and her father is a Malaysian Chinese. In the book, Canada, Hong Kong, and China are the main settings while time crosses several generations in a story where two young girls must deal with tragedy and loss.

“You are the creator of reality, and yet you have no idea how you do it—the process is effortless… In ancient India, the Vedic sages declared Aham Brahmasmi, which can be translated as ‘I am the Universe’ or ‘I am everything.’ They arrived at this knowledge by diving deep into their own awareness, where astonishing discoveries were made…

“We have an agenda, which is to show that this is a participatory universe that depends for its very existence on human beings…

“A conscious universe responds to how we think and feel. It gains its shape, color, sound, and texture from us. Therefore, we feel the best name for it is the human universe, and it is the real universe, the only one we have” (pgs 3-4).

“The painting that had impressed them, entitled Say Hello to My Little Friend, was an acrylic rendering of a marmoset doing cocaine. In the painting the small primate hunched on a coffee table in front of a pile of white powder, some of which it had been divided into lines. The animal clasped a razor blade in its little hand. Its head was tilted back, its snout was dusted with powder, and its gaping mouth exposed two needle-like lower incisors” (pgs 65-67).

Like this:

“A friend who had visited Baghdad’s Green Zone said that Harvard Business School felt eerily familiar. Whatever hell befell the rest of Iraq, the Green Zone was made luxurious with palm trees, swimming pools, and functioning electricity. Its occupants cocooned themselves from the unfolding horror so that they could focus on the broader mission of rebuilding a country. So, too, HBS smacks of an ivory tower, cut off from the world outside” (p 50).

Like this:

“On some subjects—for instance, writers’ workshops—one is tempted to pull punches or rest satisfied with oversimplified answers; but I’m assuming, as the primary reader of this book, an intensely serious beginning novelist who wants the strict truth (as I perceive it) for his life’s sake, so that he can plan his days of technique, theory, and attitude; and become as quickly and efficiently as possible a master of his craft” (p xxii).

Like this:

“The iron horse still rumbled through the tunnel when she woke. Lumbly’s words returned to her: If you want to see what this nation is all about, you have to ride the rails. Look outside as you speed through, and you’ll find the true face of America. It was a joke, then, from the start. There was only darkness outside the windows on her journeys, and only ever would be darkness” (pgs. 262-263).

Like this:

“The whole process—sitting at your desk, focusing your mind like a laser beam, imagining something out of a blank horizon, creating a story, selecting the right words, one by one, keeping the whole flow of the story on track—requires far more energy, over a long period, than most people ever imagine. You might not move your body around, but there’s grueling, dynamic labor going on inside you. Everybody uses their mind when they think. But a writer puts on an outfit called narrative and thinks with his entire being; and for the novelist that process requires putting into play all your physical reserve, often to the point of overexertion” (pgs 78-80).

Like this:

“Norse Mythology (2017) by Neil Gaiman, the British writer, is a bit of a disappointment since much of his 2017 text has been found to closely resemble in structure and delivery (as you will soon see) many videos on Norse mythology posted on the video-sharing website called YouTube. In addition, written as though his book would be for young adults, many of the stories Gaiman chooses to write about are often not suitable for readers under the age of eighteen due to sexual content and extreme acts of violence.”

Like this:

We are, however, all too familiar with the penchant judges and editors have for writers located in the coastal regions of the United States. From the list, the affiliated universities relating to the winners’ education and/or employment were found to be primarily located in the eastern coastal region of the United States: namely the New England Region and the Eastern Coastal Region which had an incredible 92 associated wins, the bulk of those coming from institutions in the state of New York (thought provoking); California, on the west coast, had an accredited 7 wins. Predictably and regrettably, since New York State and its institutions had the most associated wins by far for any state or region, the Pulitzer Prize in Novel/Fiction becomes, without question, the least diverse of all the book awards inside the United States of America.

Our Company Quote

Our Company Motto

Here at CGFEWSTON.me we encourage everyone to stay F.I.T. in mind and body…

Fairness. Integrity. Truth.

CG FEWSTON

About the Author

CG FEWSTON was born in Texas in 1979 and now lives in Hong Kong. He is the author of several short stories and novels. His works include A Father’s Son, The New America: A Collection, Vanity of Vanities, A Time to Love in Tehran, and (forthcoming) Conquergood & the Center of the Intelligible Mystery of Being, and (also forthcoming) Little Hometown, America: A Look Back.

CG FEWSTON is a member of Club Med, AWP, Americans for the Arts, and a professional member & advocate of the PEN American Center. CG FEWSTON has emerged as a leader in literature with a seasoned voice of reason, fairness and truth while becoming your American novelist for the 21st century.

When asked in an interview why he writes and for whom, he answered: “I write for my children so that one day they will have something to read from their father.”

His fourth novel, A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN, won GOLD for Literary Classics’ 2015 best book in the category under “Special Interest” for “Gender Specific – Female Audience” and has been called a “cerebral, fast-paced thriller” by Kirkus Reviews, where it gained over 10,000 shares.

A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN was also nominated for (& lost) the following 2016 book contests: the PEN/Faulkner Award, the John Gardner Fiction Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, the Young Lions Fiction Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Hammett Prize, and the Pushcart Prize. Heartbreaking, lyrical and eloquent, this remarkable novel confirms CG FEWSTON’s place among America’s finest novelists.

CG FEWSTON has travelled the world visiting Mexico, the island of Guam, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, Taipei & Beitou in Taiwan, Bali in Indonesia, and in China: Guilin, Shenzhen, Sanya on Hainan Island, Zhuhai and Beijing. He has spent several years living in South Korea, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. He also enjoys studying and learning French, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Mandarin.

While in Vietnam, CG FEWSTON was also founder and owner of Bumblebees Childcare and Kindergarten, bringing quality and premium education to thousands of children in need.

Among many others, CG FEWSTON has contributed several short stories, photographs and essays to The Penmen Review (“The Old Man in Beijing: A Christmas Carol” & “Y2K Meditations”), Adelaide Literary Magazine – from New York and Portugal (“A Day in the Life of a Guitarist”), Sediments Literary–Arts Journal, Bohemia, Ginosko Literary Journal, GNU Journal (“Hills Like Giant Elephants”), Polychrome Ink Literary Magazine, Contemporary Literary Review India (“The Girl on the River Kwai”), Tendril Literary Magazine, Foliate Oak Magazine, Prachya Review (“The One Who Had It All”), Driftwood Press (“The Boy of Eight Summers”), The Missing Slate Art & Literary Journal (Story of the Week, “Darwin Mother”), Gravel Literary Journal, Edify Fiction, Shandy Pockets, Anak Sastra, Crab Fat Literary Magazine, Dirty Chai, Nature Writing, The Writer’sDrawer, Moonlit Road, Travelmag: The Independent Spirit, and Go Nomad. For a number of years, he was also a contributor to Viet Nam’s national premier English newspaper, Tuoi Tre: “The Youth Newspaper.” In 2009, he had a Highly Commended short story “Lazarus, Come Forth!” in the Tom Howard Short Story, Essay, and Prose Contest.

Born and raised in Texas, CG FEWSTON graduated from Brownwood High School and, later, from Howard Payne University with a B.A. in English & American Literature. After receiving his first Master’s degree in Education for Higher Education Leadership and Administration (honors) from JIU in Colorado, he received his M.A. in Literature (honors) from Stony Brook University in New York where his thesis “An Unnatural Demise” was nominated for the Deborah Hecht Award. While a Seawolf, CG FEWSTON was a member of University Scholars and also the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS). He received his M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Fiction from Southern New Hampshire University, where he is proud to be a fellow Penmen.

While at Southern New Hampshire University, CG FEWSTON had the honor and privilege to work with wonderful and talented novelists, such as Richard Adams Carey (author of In the Evil Day, October 2015; and, The Philosopher Fish, 2006) and Jessica Anthony (author of Chopsticks, 2012; and, The Convalescent, 2010) as well as New York Times Best-Selling novelists Matt Bondurant (author of The Night Swimmer, 2012; and, The Wettest County in the World, 2009, made famous in the movie Lawless, 2012) and Wiley Cash (author of A Land More Kind Than Home, 2013; and, This Dark Road to Mercy, 2014). While at SNHU, CG FEWSTON also participated in writing workshops ran by Mark Sundeen, Ann Garvin, Jo Knowles, Diane Les Becquets, and Benjamin Nugent (all brave, enthusiastic and talented writers).

CG FEWSTON’s published works include:

A FATHER’S SON (2005); one collection of short fiction, THE NEW AMERICA (2007) – named a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence 2008 Awards; VANITY OF VANITIES (2011); and, A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN (2015) was a Finalist in the 2015 Chatelaine Awards for Romantic Fiction, a Finalist in the 2015 Mystery & Mayhem Novel Writing Contest, and won GOLD for Literary Classics’ 2015 Best Book in the category under “Special Interest” for “Gender Specific – Female Audience”. Heartbreaking, lyrical and eloquent, this remarkable novel confirms CG FEWSTON’s place among America’s finest novelists.

Forthcoming: Conquergood & the Center of the Intelligible Mystery of Being, and (also forthcoming) Little Hometown, America: A Look Back.

“CG FEWSTON” is a pseudonym and phonetic spelling of “CG FUSTON.” “CG” is a familial cognomen handed down multiple generations. “FUST-ON” is a surname derived from the original family name of “FUST.”

The Rhineland, a German province, is the ancestral home of the FUST family. The name was derived from the Old German word “fust” meaning “fist” and was held by a person strong in nature and character as well as combative and warlike.

After the 17th century, to escape religious persecution, many Rhinelanders settled across North America, especially in Texas—which is where the author CG FEWSTON is from.

Historically, the FUSTs would emerge in the Rhine region and in Bavaria as a noble family involved in economic, social and political affairs. One of the most famous FUSTs, according to Encyclopædia Britannica, was Johann Fust (c. 1400 – 1466), who was an early German printer and the financial backer for Johannes Gutenberg, who would become the inventor of the printing press and printing in Europe. Until 1506 the name was written as “FUST” when Peter Schöffer called his grandfather “FAUST,” which is said to have inspired the story of Doctor Faustus.